I find that the hardest thing for companies to do is to get consumers to change their purchase history. It is hard for consumers that usually choose a specific brand to change their purchasing habits and get them to choose a new brand. The most important thing for brands is how they communicate and enter the market. I think that is the biggest thing for me as a consumer. If a brand effectively communicates to me and reaches out to me I am more likely to give them a chance rather than companies who focus on mass communications that are generalized. I find with companies that try to get everyone's attention makes me feel small and like my business to them is not needed or cherished. For example Movati is a new gym that opened up in my neighbourhood and is in direct competition with GoodLife. However, Movati never communicated to me or tried to change my idea of which gym I should be assigned to. Therefore, in my opinion my business to them was seen as not important since they did not try to communicate to me about them. If I wanted to know about Movati I had to be the one to inquire questions and retrieve information.Due to the fact that Movati didn't make me feel valued and chose to communicate their brand the way they did I have decided to stay loyal to GoodLife and enjoy their benefits more.
It is so hard in today's market to keep consumers interest. I find many brands or products tend to create a good buzz which is essential prior to launch or open dates. Creating means making people aware of what is coming and why they should consider being a consumer of that good or service. Before Movati opened they had an office set up where they were building so people could go ask questions, or sign up for their membership in advance. This allowed Movati to create buzz and let word of mouth spread. Creating buzz is mainly through consumers, so I found some of my friends calling me once it opened saying that they signed up and I should to. Movati relayed its promotion through creating buzz and having people try to convince others to also join. Personally, I thought about switching after they opened because I heard how nice it was on the inside. However, GoodLife still has better hours and more locations as they are the largest gym in Canada currently. I will admit after the things I have heard about Movati I was definitely very tempted to switch. They have a pool table in their waiting area and it is apparently REALLY nice in there, which would make sense as they have all new equipment. However, I decided to still stay with goodlife because I didn't feel like they made an effort to reach out to me, therefore I did not see a reason to leave GoodLife as my business didn't seem to matter to them that much. But who knows, maybe if they start having same hours and locations everywhere like GoodLife I would potentially switch, depending on the buzz at the time.
We each have an attitude, an attitude is an evaluation on how you think or feel about yourself, other people, and issues or things. Attitudes can be formed on anything, like school, work, objects, brands, other people, just about anything can get you to have an attitude towards it.
There are 3 parts of attitude, they are affect, which is related to feeling, behaviour which is related to our intention, and cognition which is our belief. They pretty much represent knowing, feeling and doing. The order of how we process these components of attitudes is usually influenced by the nature of the purchase. Have you ever purchased something last minute and regretted it? Like a chocolate bar at the gas station! That kind of purchase include low involvement hierarchy, which means that you do not really think about the purchase you are making because it will not impact your life significantly.
Meanwhile purchasing a car which is more expensive and more long term, which requires more thinking and information gathering. When I was thinking of selling my Honda and getting a new car I had to think about what kind of car I wanted to invest in. I looked at how reliable the car would be, the brands reputation, the cost, how much it would cost to repair if something broke. I spent weeks researching cars before i finally decided to go with Hyundai Elantra. This kind of purchase required lots of thinking and was a high involvement purchase. I had to make sure I was making the right decision and that I would not regret making this purchase. To be honest though I always wanted and SUV. Unfortunately when I was purchasing my car gas prices were expensive, therefore I knew it would be expensive to drive as much as i do in a car that consumes lots of gas. Now that gas prices have dropped there is always a part of me that regrets my decision. But we all have had those purchases that we regret a little bit after, usually it is the major purchases that we make.
What makes us who we are? Well, in my opinion personality can change. Personality is one of the aspects of who we are that we can change. Personalities are made up of one's psychological make up and how it constantly influences how we react to our environment. Majority of the products that we purchase and are loyal to are due to the fact that we feel that particular brand expresses our personality. Personally for me I love the brand Marc Jacobs. I find that it is classy and simple, and elegant. I find that it helps me express that part of my personality. Having a brand that makes you feel like you can express your personality through it helps you stay loyal to that brand. I know many girls have a Michael Kors watch, and it is seen as a trend and is almost expected by people. That is why I love Marc Jacobs. I find it is not as common or typical, it is more of a unique brand as it is harder to find in Canada, making it more unique and instinct. Allowing me to express that I am one of a kind and unique.
Many people do not see a point in purchasing brand name products that are higher end such as Michael Kors or Marc Jacobs, that all depends on their lifestyles. How somebody spends their money and on what products affects how they live their life. Personally for me I like spending my money on brand names because my perception of brands is that they are better quality. Due to my spending habits I live a luxury life. when I was younger I started saving my money to get a car. Once I was able to drive I was then able to get a car. While other people my age were spending their money on going out and drinking because I was so focused on getting things that will improve my lifestyle, at the age of 22 people seem to think that I am "spoiled". Little do they know I have chosen that lifestyle due to how I spend my money at a young age. Our lifestyles are filled with our personalities due to the brands that we purchase and how we express ourselves through them. You could learn so much about someone based on how they react to things, their spending habits, and how they choose to live their lives.
Everyone has an image of who they are, and who they want to be. Our ideal self is the idea of who
we want to be, where as the actual self is the person
that we actually are. I know for myself high school was really where I formed who I was and had my perception of who I am along with my insecurities which effected my self-esteem. Self-esteem refers
to the positivity of a persons self image. You can either have low self-esteem and think you won't be able to succeed or you can have high self-esteem which allows you to think you'll be successful, allowing you to take more risks and do more
things. A huge impact on our idea of our ideal self is social media. We are constantly comparing ourself with celebrities that have been photoshopped or gone through lots of surgeries. We take comfort in buying products that we think will help us become closer to our ideal self. It is a huge reason why females purchase so much make up, because we are constantly comparing our self and trying to improve what we can to achieve the image of our ideal self. For me personally it was purchases of weight loss pills and subscriptions to weight loss programs such as Weight Watchers.
The biggest problem with these kinds of advertisements is that it creates a difference that is felt between the actual and ideal self. That can cause many people to become very self-conscious and feel like they will never become their ideal self, therefore the do not deserve to feel pretty or thin. If someone becomes very self-concious they will then start purchasing things that they can control and will have an influence on how people view themselves. The idea of body image is clearly something that I struggled with and will continue to struggle with for majority of my life. Body image is how I look and feel about myself and my body. Due to low-self esteem lots of people tend to have a negative body image of themselves. While people that are extremely confident are more likely to think that they look amazing and feel amazing in their own skin. In today's society it is so hard to feel that good about yourself and that is so sad to say. We live in a society full of people trying so hard to become their ideal self and constantly compare themselves to supermodels.
However, lately there has been a slight change by companies to try and change peoples view about themselves. Many companies are now trying to get "real" people as models to be a part of their campaign, to show consumers that everyone is beautiful in their own way. A huge company that was very successful with that was DOVE and their Real Beauty Campaign. Dove real beauty uses real women as their models and helps focuses on repairing women's image of themselves. Another popular brand that tried to incorporate real girls as their models was Aritzia. Aritzia had people focus on posting photos of them falling in love with their favourite fall piece of clothing from them. Aritzia took away their models for a few months and had people post pictures of themselves in the brands clothing and were displayed on the website as a part of the campaign. Pictures were posted through Instagram and made lots of girls feel beautiful and fabulous, like they were living the glimmers life of a model themselves.
Throughout high school most people experience bullying. Most bullying was focused around cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is the easiest method of bullying because it allowed people to have multiple personalities. People were able to hide behind a screen. Having a virtual identity allows people to run multiple lives. Many people can feel empowered and unstoppable behind a screen, where as in person they could be actually really shy. Many people as they grow up found that they changed from hiding behind a screen to trying to keep up an image that people perceive about them. Many people for example from high school think that I am a huge party animal and experience life to the fullest, or that I am obsessed with brand names. Few of my friends on social media know that I am in school. This is due to the fact that I usually only post things when I am doing something fun and exiting, rather than posting about my school work. Therefore, so many people have this idea about me that I have allowed them to have by managing my social media profiles the way that I do. It is hard for social media to allow us to fully express who we are as a whole. Majority of people struggle with having virtual identities in todays society. I found that in my personal life, it is easier for people to express themselves and their emotions more through text messages rather than in person. I even struggle with that sometimes. I think its honestly because so many of us are scared to fully express ourselves and let people in like that! So it's just easier to let people know us through our virtual identity, the way we want them to, and have them see things that we are able to manage and control.
Throughout high school I found I was not the most motivated kid, but then again at that age not many people are. I found as time went on and I became more independent and started university, that was when I began to be very driven. When I was in high school I was a bigger girl and had always struggled with my weight. I found that although I was aware of my weight being an issue I found nothing worked and motivated me as much as my motivational strength, meaning how much effort I was willing to put in to achieve my goals. I had previously made several attempts to lose weight ad I found that nothing worked permanently. Thinking back, it probably has something to do with the fact that I wasn't fully motivated or driven to changing my habits. So what had to change for me to have a permanent change? Well, I found that I took all my pervious knowledge, and attempts and took that motivational direction and geared it towards the present. I combined everything I knew to make sure I would have been giving it my all. I started going to GoodLife and found that as I started noticing results I became emotionally connected to the gym. When Movati started opening up new locations, I noticed I did not want to change gyms as GoodLife has made me happy and helped me be successful, therefore creating that emotional connection with GoodLife and ensuring that I will be a lifelong memeber. After my weight loss I noticed so many people looking up to me for motivation and advice, I was obviously loyal to GoodLife and recommended that they get a membership and workout. We all have so many goals that we wish to achieve, however we all do not prioritize our goals. Everyone has it in them to motivate themselves to change any aspect of their life. We all have the energy and are driven to achieve those goals, the only difference is how attached we become to those goals. Once those goals become something that we see as a necessity and that they are important, only then will we see the energy to change our habits. If one person can achieve it everyone can!
The idea or opinion we have on something is usually associated with our perception. Perception is the process by which sensations are selected,
organized, and interpreted. Perception allows us to focus on what we add or take away from raw sensations as we choose which ones
to notice and focus on and which ones we assign meaning to. Perception allows us to have an emotional attachment to something or allows us to not care about other things. Perception is primarly explained as the way one sees things. For example the most common way to share someone the different views is by seeing if the see the old lady or a young woman in the picture below.
Sight is the first sense that is affected by products usually. We view the store or product before we enter it or pick it up. The way we view the store, the colour scheme of it, the lay out, will all affect our purchasing behaviour and our mood within the store. For example, if you were to take a day off and go to the spa to relax, how would you feel if that spa was painted in a bright purple or pink? Chances are you wouldn't be very relaxed at all. That is because associated with bright colours usually comes excitement, where as more neutral colours like beige and green are more calming.
Touch is the second most affected sense. When purchasing a product online you are unable to feel the texture of that product. Many people will refuse to buy certain clothes due to the fabric or the feel of that article. I personally can not stand the feeling of velvet, therefore when I am shopping if I see something that is made from velvet I can't even get myself to touch it without getting goosebumps. The biggest problem with online shopping is that consumers can not feel the texture of the product or for clothing you can not try it on. Stores that operate only online can lose potential customers to that fact that they are unsure of their product. I found this website TOBI. It is a clothing store that only operates online and I was so hesitant to purchase things from it because I was unable to try it on and feel the item and make sure I would be satisfied with it. That has a huge impact on how the consumer perceives the brand. If they have a great experience and love their items they have purchased then they are going to perceive the brand positively. On the other hand if they got stuff and it didn't meet their expectations either in terms of sizing and how it fit, or the fabric and texture used, chances are they are not going to perceive that brand positively at all. My experience with TOBI was very positive and therefore I have been a returning customer, however I am still always hesitant when partings products based on size and material. Products that would also suffer from being sold online are scented candles and stores like Bath and Body Works. Due to the fact that you have to try the scent and see if you like it before you purchase it will have a huge impact on your satisfaction of the product.
Every single one of us is a consumer regardless if that is something we like or not, it is something that is essential for our survival. Consumers could be found within businesses or just as individuals, when companies purchase something from businesses to other businesses (B2B) or when consumers purchase something from a business (B2C). Consumer behaviour is the study of how we each act and what drives us to purchase the things we do. Consumer behaviour examines why we choose specific brands and products over their competitors and our purchasing habits. Understanding consumer behaviour helps marketers understand why people purchase the things we do and can help them create an effective marketing campaign to appeal to consumers. Specific products and purchase habits have potential of causing harm to our lives. The most common bad habit that usually is targeted at young adults because that is when they are becoming independent and making their own money and could potentially be life long consumers. Smoking companies are the huge on influencing young adults and getting them to develop and addiction to their products and feel like they are dependent on that smoke. Personally I have never really been addicted to a product. I have watched so many of my friends and been in relationships where my partner has gotten very addicted to Belmonts. They found that first thing they needed in the morning with their coffee was a smoke and started heavily relaying on this product. Due to the fact that they started smoking at the age of 19, they are more than likely to become life long consumers.
c Compulsive consumption is another way that consumers can have other reasons for purchase behaviours. This one is something that effects me personally, compulsive consumption is when someone goes shopping to make themselves feel better. Sometimes when I have some time to kill and do not have anything better to do, a little afternoon shopping can make all the difference in my day. If I am having a really bad day sometimes shopping or just spending some money on something to treat myself like getting my nails done I found puts me in a better mood. Another addiction I find myself affected by is an addiction to technology. I work at WindMobile, and I found that as soon as a new phone came out I felt the need to get it. Although there was nothing wrong with my previous handset I went through a few years where I would change my phone every six months.
The environment around us has a huge impact also on our spending habits. Our geographical locations can impact our purchases. For example I visited Dubai last year over Christmas and I found that majority of their advertisements were focused around cars and geared towards a luxurious lifestyle. Majority of advertisements in Dubai were targeted towards the wealthier individuals. There was a mall that was all high end brand names. The mall was full of people that had that kind of money to spend. I was amazed that there was a whole mall fully devoted to brand names. When I visited New York City I stayed in Times Square the heart of the city. I found that although both of these cities have huge markets they targeted different consumer types. As Dubai focused on the lifestyle aspect of consumers New York focused mainly on a differentiation in products and services. There are so many people in New York and it is a more condensed city that the need for cars is not as large of a market as it is in Dubai. People in Dubai take great pride in their cars, and have them parked by entrances and everyone takes pictures with all the nice high end cars. At the beginning of my trip i was amazed by the nice cars, however, closer towards the end of my trip I found that I had adapted to seeing nice cars everywhere. However, in New York most people don't even own a car. They spend most of their money on products and services as it is a city that never sleeps. I found both of these cities were huge and advertising was mainly focused by using bright lights to attract you, however being there the kind of products and services you spend your money on will vary.
It is so hard in today's market to keep consumers interest. I find many brands or products tend to create a good buzz which is essential prior to launch or open dates. Creating means making people aware of what is coming and why they should consider being a consumer of that good or service. Before Movati opened they had an office set up where they were building so people could go ask questions, or sign up for their membership in advance. This allowed Movati to create buzz and let word of mouth spread. Creating buzz is mainly through consumers, so I found some of my friends calling me once it opened saying that they signed up and I should to. Movati relayed its promotion through creating buzz and having people try to convince others to also join. Personally, I thought about switching after they opened because I heard how nice it was on the inside. However, GoodLife still has better hours and more locations as they are the largest gym in Canada currently. I will admit after the things I have heard about Movati I was definitely very tempted to switch. They have a pool table in their waiting area and it is apparently REALLY nice in there, which would make sense as they have all new equipment. However, I decided to still stay with goodlife because I didn't feel like they made an effort to reach out to me, therefore I did not see a reason to leave GoodLife as my business didn't seem to matter to them that much. But who knows, maybe if they start having same hours and locations everywhere like GoodLife I would potentially switch, depending on the buzz at the time.
